File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_2000/bhaskar.0006, message 224


Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 00:07:42 +0100
From: Colin Wight <Colin.Wight-AT-aber.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: BHA: Explanatory Power


Hi Jonathan,

Very quickly, I'm kind of surprised by two things. One, the failure to see
that it was not I who introduced authority into the discussionn, and two,
the failure to see just how much rationalism allows your account to get off
the ground (unless of course you are claiming that you experience the
mechanisms). 

Indeed, if you want to talk of explanatory power in terms of CR, the
empirical as RB puts it in another context, is simply a positive riple on a
sea on negativity. But really you are all going to have to excuse me on
this one, it's not even something that bothers me that much. In terms of
authority, incidentally, it is not simply decision making as such since we
often defer to authority when we want to grasp the best explanation.
Moreover, even decisions are decisions of something and the decision to
simply go to the cinema can often be the result of a very deep explanatory
account (i.e. why do you want to see THAT film?); and committee decision
more oftne are than not explanatory accounts. This is onbly a transient
effect however, and as with all such decisions, what we are really saying
is that we haven't yet got enough evidence (understood as not exhuasted by
the empirical).


More than this I clearly stated that I didn't really think torture and
authority were particulalry scientific; you need to address your concerns
re authority to Tobin: I was simply trying to work through some instances
where it might be used.

More to the point though Jonathan you actually concede my argument when you
argue:


although in special circumstances 
>other criteria may be considered as surrogates.

I rest my case on this one!!!
 
One more thing, whatever your account may be Jonathan, I am sure that CR,
and RB in particular, does not accord primamcy to the empirical; and I also
said that in most cases knowledge claims will have an empirical referent.


Cheers,


============================================

Dr. Colin Wight
Department of International Politics
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Wales
SY23 3DA
Tel: (01970) 621769 


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